


Deadpool is My Favorite

by wholocked_Pinkie_in_theImpala



Category: JackSepticEye (YouTube RPF), LordMinion777 (YouTube RPF), Markiplier (YouTube RPF), Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), muyskerm (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Borderline Personality Disorder, Bromance, Mark is a cocky bitch, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, No Slash, Paranoia, Schizophrenia, lots of flirting, septiplier if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6432289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholocked_Pinkie_in_theImpala/pseuds/wholocked_Pinkie_in_theImpala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It may not be real to you, but it is to me. Somewhere out there I'm helping people in ways only little kids dream."</p><p>Jack is a famous superhero known as the Septic Eye. A duel-wielding bad ass who only fights for justice. But in "reality", he's a schizophrenic who has been in a psych ward for a solid year. So now our hero finds himself split between two worlds. The fake world where Sean McLoughlin was born, and the real world where Jack Septic Eye thrives.</p><p>[TAKING REQUESTS FOR YOUTUBERS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THIS]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hammers Rock!

Jack planted his feet on the ground. He looked around at the predicament he found himself in. There were goons surrounding him like they thought he was trapped. Jack scoffed and reached behind his back to grab his trusty weapons. They were a shiny silver and green at the bottom. One had an end like the bottom of a rocket while the other had a hole like the end of a gun. They were both about the size of him so it was miraculous how he could wield two. Jack looked at his enemies and grinned. "Who's first?" His grinned widened when no one stepped forward. "I love it when I get to choose."

Jack put one hammer on his shoulder and admired his work. There were bodies of people who used to be standing scattered about the room. He sighed with content at his handiwork. He put his hammers behind his back and brushed his green hair out of his eyes. Jack was about to head up to the next floor, but he heard someone come crashing in. Quite literally. Glass was shattering and everything. Jack groaned in annoyance before he turned around. "What is it, Markiplier?"

"That's not a nice way to greet a pal," Markiplier said with a cheeky smile. "Did I miss all the action already? You really gotta learn when to share, Jackarooney. I like helping, too, y'know?"

"I find that rather hard to believe." Jack spun on his heel but Mark poofed right in front of him again; a cloud of red smoke dispersed around them. "For fucks sake, Mark, leave me alone." He pushed passed Mark before he could say anything. He reached the next floor and found it empty of life. Mark appeared in red smoke again, causing Jack to jump back. "Gah! Mark, goddammit! What the fuck --"

Mark slapped a hand over Jack's mouth. "Shh!" He brought his free hand up to his glasses and clicked something on the side. The glass changed to a tinted red, almost pink. He looked around the room and then up at the ceiling "I think I found who you're looking for."

Jack looked up but only saw the ceiling. He had no other choice but to trust Mark on this. But the last time that happened the two ended up tangled together in a rope trap. Jack still had nightmares about it. Mark turned from the ceiling to Jack. "You got a real thick skull there, pal." Jack narrowed his eyes and smacked Mark's head. "Jeez. Can't even take a little joke." He turned off his glasses and let Jack's mouth free. "So since I'm here I might as well help you, right?"

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever," he mumbled. Jack usually hated working with Mark. Mark was more anti-hero than anything. He didn't always do what was right, but he also didn't kill people just because it was fun. Though he did find some fun in kicking ass. The duo headed upstairs with Mark fully eager and Jack grumpy as heck. As soon as they reached the floor, they were spotted by enemies. The hostage Jack was supposed to rescue sat gagged and bound at the other end of the room.

Mark smirked and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Jack looked at where he once was and scoffed as he rolled his eyes. He took out his hammers and whacked a goon who charged toward him. Jack growled when he noticed Mark wasn't back yet. He smacked his other hammer into another idiot. "Markiplier, I swear to God..." Jack raised one hammer and smashed it on the ground in front of one of the charging enemies and clicked a button on the handle. A green light flashed where the hammer met the ground and then the floor collapsed underneath the enemy's feet. The hammer released some wisps of green smoke.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw a cloud of red. He turned toward it and then instantly regretted it. Mark had who knows how many explosives. "Mark!" Jack screeched. "What are you doing?!" He whacked an oncoming threat without even looking.

"Relax, Septic Eye, I got this," Mark said in a condescending tone.

Jack glanced worriedly at the hostage. They both needed to get out of this. Mark and explosives were not a good mix. The poor girl looked so confused and scared already, she didn't need anymore near death experiences. "Fuck me," Jack cursed under his breath. He put one hammer on his back and stepped on the bottom of the other one. He clicked the button and the rocket-like end shot out green flames, propelling him forward toward the hostage. The girl looked relieved to see him. "Nice to meet you. Let's get out of here," Jack said quickly with a smile.

It looked like Mark was just about done doing what he was doing. Jack untied the hostage as fast as he could. He pulled her up and helped her stand on the hammer. Jack glanced back in time to see Mark press the button to set off the explosives just as he clicked the one on his hammer. They pressed their buttons at nearly the same time. Jack and the girl were sent flying off the hammer from the force of Mark's explosion. The hammer went one direction and Jack and the girl went another. The girl screamed as Jack mentally cursed Mark. He was able to hold onto the girl and make sure he was the one with his back toward the ground.

Sean shot up in bed before they hit the ground.


	2. Miraculous Jack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell, one of Jack's hammers was inspired by a character in RWBY. (The idea for hammers actually came from her and the fact that Jack said he liked the hammers when he was playing the Deadpool game. But also there's this really cool artist who drew Jack with a hammer as his weapon.)

Sean stared at the wall in front of him. This was not the life he was supposed to be stuck in. He was not Sean, he was Jack. Jack who is confident and clever, and not trapped in a cell of his own mind. But instead he is Sean. Sean who is tired and scared and belongs somewhere else. But the doctors told him he had no where else to be. He belonged right where he was; in a tiny room in a hospital where patients constantly want to kill themselves.

Sean reached under his bed and brought out a small box. Before he even opened it he knew what was inside, he knew its contents by heart. Inside were drawings -- drawings of a life he should be living. He opened it and brought out all the sketches and colorings. The first thing he saw was an illustration of Jack -- he always liked to keep it on top. Even in a drawing, Jack looked confident. He had bright green hair and blue eyes like Sean; except Jack's eyes were full of life. Jack wore a mask that went around his eyes like a typical superhero. It was a mixture of green and blue. The rest of his outfit was made up of those two colors. It reminded Sean a bit of _Miraculous Ladybug ,_ minus the polka dots. Jack had two black straps running along his chest that held the hammers on his back. Sean sighed and turned the paper over.

This Jack looked more like Sean. His green hair was gone but his blue eyes stayed the same. Instead of a frown that always seemed to linger on Sean's face, it was a broad smile. He looked like a normal person. Sean brought out the rest of the papers and put the box on the ground. He pulled up his feet onto the bed in order to get comfortable. Most of the papers were full of sketches. There were some sketches of villains and their cronies, a few of Jack in random poses or fighting positions, and even some with a few other heroes Jack knew. But Sean only ever colored the heroes Jack associated himself with on more than one occasion.

Sean shuffled through the papers to find the one of Markiplier. The drawing was slightly more rough than the one of Jack. Mark had a cocky grin with the glass of his glasses colored pink. His hair was a deep red along with the big, bold 'M' slapped on his chest. The rest of his outfit was black save for the belt that held two guns and numerous grenades. Sean knew for a fact that Mark used those guns for nearly everything else but to shoot bullets at people. They could act as a grappling hook, grenade launcher, almost anything Mark wanted them to be. He was a man of many trades but a master of nearly none.

The door opened and Sean quickly moved Markiplier somewhere in the middle of the pile. The person closed the door behind them. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of Sean. "Looking through your illustrations again, I see," he said with a small smile. This was Sean's doctor, Dr. Fischbach. He was really kind and all, but he was a doctor for Sean. And that meant it was his job to "fix" the shattered mind that was Sean McLoughlin.

Sean fiddled with the corner of a paper while he looked at it. He responded shyly, "Yeah." He glanced up, and for a split second, his doctor had fiery red hair. Sean blinked and it returned to its normal raven color.

Dr. Fischbach's smile twisted into a frown before he brought it up into a smile again. Sean noticed that it was fake this time. "How have you been feeling, Sean? Still seeing heroes and villains? Meet anyone new this time?"

Sean never told Dr. Fischbach that he was part of his "delusions". He told the doctor about every other person Jack ran into, but never Markiplier. Sean had a feeling Dr. Fishbach would not take kindly to being an anti-hero. "Uh, I've been okay. Jack was on a mission to save this girl, but they got blown out of the building before they could make a full escape. When they were falling I woke up before anything else happened." Sean never referred to himself as Jack. Not anymore, anyway. He found that being Jack caused the staff to believe he was more crazy than they thought.

Dr. Fischbach hummed in understanding. Sean nearly scoffed at the sound. As if Dr. Fischbach knew about how Sean felt. "So what do you believe will happen next? Do you think they die --?"

"Jack won't die," Sean's response came out harsher than he intended. "He's smart. I'm sure he can think of something." He saw Dr. Fischbach raise his brows, and it looked like he was going to say something, but he stopped himself.

He sighed and stood up. "Well, Sean, I think we'll continue this another time. As always, it was a pleasure talking to you." He smiled, a genuine one, and then left.

Sean stared at the door as it closed. He looked down at his stack of drawings and noticed the top one was a sketch of one of the nurses in Jack's world. Sean knew this nurse pretty well. He was friends with Dr. Fischbach, and in turn, friends with Sean. But in Jack's world, Bob was not a nurse. Bob was a bit of a mad scientist who helped out Markiplier with gadgets and explosives -- usually explosives. Jack was rather fond of Bob for being able to stand Mark for so long, let alone work with him. Bob had even offered to upgrade Jack's hammers once, but Jack refused the offer. If Sean recalled correctly, he said that his hammers were perfect enough already.

Sean glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It steadily ticked to show that time had not stopped. But it wasn't at the time Sean needed it to be yet. He willed for it to go by faster, but of course, it did not. Free time was at exactly noon and it was currently eleven-forty-five. Sean put his papers in the correct order and put them back where they should be. There was nothing else to do but wait. So wait he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could've made this longer. Eh, there's always next chapter.


	3. Fun and Games

Sean wandered down the hall to the rec room. There were other patients (those fit to be around other people) already hanging about. Sean scanned the room until his eyes landed on a familiar face. This was the only person Sean thought of as a close friend. Wade had a minor case of paranoia. Minor compared to other patients with the same condition. He often accused Sean of things, but was later reassured to some degree that his accusations were false. Wade was more outgoing compared to other paranoid patients. They often played a game. With nothing else to do, they both found it fun in an odd, nearly sadistic way. It was unofficially named, "Who Cracks". In order to play, one had to scan the patients and see who would "crack". Sean was nearly almost right every time. Not only because Wade's paranoia got in the way most of the time, but because something would happen to that patient's counterpart in Jack's world.

"You wanna play another round?" Wade asked. Sean had been right about one of the patients last time. They weren't in the rec room today. "You'll probably win again. Are you sure you don't have psychic powers?"

Sean gave a pathetic excuse for a laugh. "I'm nearly positive, Wade. Should we start?"

Wade nodded and they began their search. Sean looked at all the faces and connected the one's Jack met. So far nothing was happening. Then Sean's eyes landed on a girl's face.

* * *

Jack shut his eyes as he prepared to hit the ground. But nothing happened. He cracked open one eye to see they weren't outside anymore. This was somewhere he was familiar with. His back landed on the hard floor. "Markiplier!" Jack screamed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Jack set the girl on the floor and stood up to face the man that dropped them there. Markiplier had that smug look on his face. "We could have died!"

Mark scoffed. "I knew what I was doing, Jackarooney." He ruffled Jack's green hair. "All part of the plan to make me your knight in shining armor. How 'bout a kiss, princess?" Mark puckered his lips and leaned closer to Jack's face.

Jack grimaced and leaned away. He reached behind his back -- ignoring for the moment that one hammer was missing -- and grabbed the remaining hammer. He readied himself, as if he was going to swing a baseball bat, but was stopped by a voice before he could act. It was the girl. "W-where am I?" Jack looked down at her and Mark took that opportunity to swoop in and kiss Jack's cheek. Jack dropped his hammer and wiped his face, making noises to show his displeasure. 

"You're in an undisclosed location, doll face," Mark answered while Jack continued to exaggerate. "Only me and the Septic Eye know of this place. You get a back stage tour." He winked at her. Yet she still looked confused and frightened.

"I'm afraid we can't tell you exactly where this is," Jack smacked Mark's face. "For security reasons. Not only ours, but yours as well. _Markiplier_ here shouldn't have even brought us." He crossed his arms and looked sternly at Mark. "He just can't get it through his thick skull that we all can't be reckless like him. Some of us have identities to protect. And you better go back and get my other hammer! I'll break your stupid ass glasses, I swear to God."

Mark raised a brow in amusement. "Sure thing." He stooped into a princely bow and said, "M'lady." Then he was gone in a puff of red smoke. Jack noticed that it smelled metallic. Mark had used a teleportation device to transport all of them rather than use his own powers. Jack didn't know if it was because Mark's powers could only teleport him, or if it was because Mark was just a lazy bastard. Either way, Jack didn't approve of getting transported without consent.

The girl coughed and swatted the smoke away. Jack switched from Mamaplier to super hero in order to comfort her. He sat down beside her. The ground of Bob's lab was cold and hard. It was made to test explosives and other things that weren't quite safe, so it had to be sturdy. "What's your name?" Jack asked. If he was going to be comforting, might as well start with the basics.

"Mikayla," the girl answered. She looked frightened. "Why am I here? What even happened? Who were all those people?" She began spewing out a bunch of questions before Jack had the chance to answer any of them.

"Whoa, wait — hold on a sec. M-Mikayla — okay, yeah, but —" Jack couldn't finish his thoughts. He grabbed onto Mikayla's shoulders, noticing how she flinched. "Calm down. I can't answer your questions if you don't give me a chance. Can you be quiet for a moment, please?"

Mikayla nodded.

"Okay. So in case you didn't know already, I'm the Septic Eye. Hero of the city and all that. The man that just left is Markiplier. A pompous asshole, if I do say so myself. He's seen by many as a villain, but he's really not. He's just a jerk. He brought us here as one of his attempts to be 'my hero', even though he practically blew us out of the building. Why you were taken I can't say. The gang that took you just do whatever they please. You're actually lucky you weren't killed."

In a poof of red smoke appeared Mark wielding Jack's hammer. Jack held his hand out expectantly, but Mark didn't give him what he wanted. Mark set the end of the hammer on the ground and wagged a finger with his free hand. "It comes with a price, princess," Mark said with an annoying grin. Then he pointed at his cheek.

"I'll show you a price," Jack grumbled as he stood up. He scowled at Mark before reluctantly reaching up and pecking his cheek. Mark practically swooned. He clasped his hands together and put them up to his chin like a cartoon character in love. Jack caught his hammer with near mom-like reflexes. He scowled at Mark once more as he pranced around the room saying how senpai noticed him. Jack was just about to smash Mark's skull when there was a loud explosion coming from another room. It shook the whole building like an earthquake.

Mikayla shrieked and scrambled away from a cart that fell over. The contents were mainly glass, so they shattered on impact. Some sort of liquid spewed out of one of the viles; it landed on Mikayla's shoe. She shrieked again and waved her foot around in an attempt to get the liquid off. All it did was send specks of it flying everywhere. She climbed onto her feet and continued shaking her foot around. In her haste, she lost  balance and fell against a counter. Her hand smashed a syringe. The glass embedded itself in her hand as well as cover it in another strange liquid. But this liquid seemed to absorb into her skin instantly, causing her to scream. It didn't hurt, but it was terrifying. What hurt was the sharp glass.

Jack rushed over to her. Mikayla held out her hand, a sniveling mess. Jack put his hammer where it belonged and gently grasped her hand. It was a bloody mess. Quite literally. He grimaced at the sight. "I-I don't feel very good," Mikayla's voice barely came over a whisper. She collapsed into Jack's arms only seconds after.

* * *

Sean shook his head slightly. It was her. She was going to crack next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is unedited so excuse any bad grammar/spelling. That being said, I might change Mikayla to Marzia or someone. Just to have a YouTube-only fic. But that's just a thought :)


	4. Oh Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First thing first, Mikayla is now Marzia. Second thing, I'm too lazy to go back and edit the last chapter. Third, it's so fucking weird not using contractions when I write in Sean's view.

Bob ran into his main lab. Jack's loud voice echoed off the walls there. There was an unconscious girl in his arms. "I have several questions," Bob announced. Jack and Mark stopped bickering to look at him. "First one being; who the hell is she?"

Mark looked at Jack as if he was expecting him to explain. Jack scowled. "This idiot," Jack made sure to emphasize the idiot. "Decided it would be a good idea to bring us here after nearly blowing us up. I was rescuing her before being rudely interrupted." Jack hit Mark's shoulder. Mark retaliated by sticking his tongue out. Jack decided it was best to ignore it. "She's got some nasty cuts on her hand." He showed Bob.

Bob walked up and took Marzia's hand. The glass was deeply embedded. Bob sighed as he took out some tweezers from his lab coat pocket. He decided to scold the two men before him while he picked out glass shards. "This lab is top secret, you two. You can't just bring whoever you want in here." Mark and Jack were beginning to protest, but Bob silenced them. "It's for other people's safety, you idiots. This isn't a goddamn day care." Bob picked out the last shard. That's when he noticed the smashed syringe on the counter. All of the liquid that was inside was completely gone -- there weren't any drops left. A connection was instantly made.

"We need to get her to the infirmary," Bob said as he rushed away. When Jack and Mark just stood there, he turned back to them and shouted, "This is a life or death situation!" Jack scooped up Marzia into his arms and followed Bob into the next room, with Mark following closely behind.

* * *

Sean laid on his bed. There were footsteps running down the hall -- and even some shouting. Something was going on with that girl he saw earlier, Sean knew it. Was her name Marzia in this world, too? Sean was not sure. He was not even sure what was happening to her. Things in Jack's world did not always correspond to Sean's world. In Jack's world, Marzia was infected with an experiment of Bob's. But Sean did not know what would happen to this version of Marzia. There was a chance that she could die.

Sean's fingers twitched; he felt the sudden need to draw. Without thinking, he reached under his bed and pulled out the small box. There were blank papers as well as a pencil and some crayons. Sean was not technically supposed to have the pencil, but no one needed to know it was there. He moved to the hard floor and set down a piece of paper and held the pencil over it. His hand began to roughly sketch out a face. Sean was not even sure himself what he was drawing; his body was moving on its own accord. There was finally enough details for Sean to see that it was Marzia. She looked worried. The pencil curled her hair over her shoulder until there were pretty waves of hair flowing from the top of her head.

Her face was smeared from Sean brushing his hand against the details. The longer Sean gazed at her, the more he realized this was one of the roughest sketches he has done. Perhaps it was the fact that Jack had only just met her. Sean sat back and twirled the pencil in his hand. Marzia was certainly a beautiful girl. Under different circumstances, Sean might have wanted to be friends with her. But at least in this life that couldn't happen. Jack could probably be friends with her -- if nothing bad happened to her, at least.

Dr. Fischbach rushed through the door as if he was getting away from the commotion outside. Sean tossed his pencil under the bed, but when he looked up, he saw Markiplier. He looked wide-eyed at Sean. "Jack," he said in an urgent tone. "What'll happen now? How are we gonna protect this girl? She's like -- what? -- eighteen?"

"Is she that young?" Sean responded.

"What?" Dr. Fischbach asked. His brows pulled together in concern and confusion.

Sean blinked. Dr. Fischbach's long red hair shrunk down to its normal black color. He put his hands in the pockets of his white coat instead of on a belt like Mark would have. This certainly was not the first time that Jack's life seeped into Sean's, but it was the first time in a while that Sean acknowledged it. He knew this was going to affect what Dr. Fischbach came in for. "Nothing," Sean mumbled.

Dr. Fischbach looked as if he was going to say something, but he decided against it. "Okay then. Well, uh, I just decided to check up on you. I assume you heard all the trouble going on outside."

Sean nodded. He occupied himself by playing with a loose string on the end of his shirt.

The doctor sighed. Sean looked up, confused, when he heard Dr. Fischbach walking over to him. He kneeled down in front of Sean. Sean moved so his back was touching the bed. Some part of his mind was convinced that he should never be too close to any of the staff. "Sean," Dr. Fischbach said in a calm voice. "I actually came to ask you something."

Sean just stared at him with a stern face.

Dr. Fischbach gave a small smile. "You've told me of things happening to people in this hospital. Sometimes you said things before they've even happened. It's made me curious ever since the Howell incident. So I just want to know..." He paused, brows coming together once again. He looked worried and thoughtful all at once. "Did you ever see anything about Marzia?"

Sean continued to stare. Dr. Fischbach never showed his supposed interest in Sean's "episodes". Though there happened to be less therapy sessions after what happened with Dan Howell. Sean decided to humor the man. "I did. Just earlier today."

Dr. Fischbach nodded as if he understood. "What exactly... happened?"

When Dan was in the hospital, Sean "predicted" something scarily accurate to the real thing. It was the only accurate prediction Sean had so far. In Jack's world, Dan was in a tag team of sorts. People often thought of him and his partner as one person. They played for both sides -- good and evil, that is. In Sean's end, Dan had a wide array of supposed problems. No one was sure what to diagnose him with. Dan's friend, Phil, would often visit nearly every day. He was a nice boy that seemed too innocent for his own good. One day Phil did not show up. Dan was clearly expecting him to, as he began pacing around the hospital for hours. In short, Dan nearly tore the place apart at the end of the day.

On the other end, Dan did something more drastic. Jack witnessed it while he was off duty, so it was not as if he could suddenly step in with so many people around. Dan went on a demolishing spree when someone abducted Phil. Later, Jack (and to Jack's dismay, Mark) stopped Dan before he could harm anyone else. They helped him find Phil and from that point on they all had a common enemy.

Sean shrugged. "She smashed a syringe by accident. Whatever was in it kinda absorbed into her skin and she had cuts from the glass."

Dr. Fischbach nodded again. "Well that's not exactly the case here," he smiled a bit and stood up. "Thank you for your time, Sean." As he turned to leave, Sean saw red hair and a wink.


	5. Welcome to the Club

Jack and Mark stood off to the side while Bob rushed around. Marzia was still unconscious. Bob said that the syringe was full of some serum he was planning to inject into some poor, unsuspecting mouse. He wasn't even sure what it did. That's what experiments were for, he said. "Okay," Bob said after a period of silence. "She's still alive — which is a good sign — but it seems that her heart rate is impossibly slow." He pointed to a monitor. To Jack and Mark, it was just a bunch of science mumbo jumbo. But they, thankfully, understood how lines worked. The little line hardly jumped up. Marzia's heart was barely beating.

"So... what?" Jack looked at Bob. "How does that make sense?"

"It shouldn't," Bob turned toward another monitor. "Everything else is fine. But her heart is the only thing that's slow. I don't know what could cause that."

Mark frowned at the heart monitor. Bob and Jack continued talking, but Mark stayed silent. He proceeded to stare at the monitor as if forcing it to reveal its secrets. But then something odd happened. It picked up speed. "Uh..." Mark looked from the monitor to the other men. "Guys? I think something's happening."

Bob and Jack rushed to the monitor. Marzia's heart went from nearly gone to normal. "What the...?" Bob muttered. But Marzia's heart didn't stop there. It picked up speed that none of the men knew a heart could. A loud gasp caused them to jump. Marzia shot up from the gurney she was laying on. She panicked for a second before her eyes landed on Jack and Mark.

"That wasn't a dream?" She asked, almost disappointed.

Everyone stared at her, absolutely flabbergasted. Jack's mouth hung open, Mark looked impressed but terrified, and Bob's face was clearly saying what was on their minds: what the fuck. Marzia's heart was at a normal rate now and she seemed to be fine — more than fine. Jack noted that she wasn't frightened or nervous. She was confident and spoke without stuttering. Bob ran some tests to find out she was perfectly healthy. "Wait, guys," Bob said. Marzia rubbed her arm where her blood was drawn. "Look." She sat there as Jack and Mark walked over to Bob.

Once again, the information on the computer was something neither Jack nor Mark could understand. It was information on what was in Marzia's blood stream. "You see that?" Bob pointed to a word on the screen. The two men nodded. "Jack, stick out your arm and roll up your sleeve."

Jack was confused but didn't hesitate to do so. Bob brought out another needle and Jack immediately had to look away before anything else happened. "Aw is wittle Jackie afraid of a wittle needle?" Mark said with a wide grin. Jack retaliated with his best bitch face.

A sharp pain was felt in Jack's elbow before he could say anything insulting. "Ow!" He looked at Bob, saw the needle, then looked away. "Watch it! That fucking hurt."

"Oh quit your bitching," Bob said. He untied the band around Jack's arm. "Marzia didn't even flinch." Mark sniggered.

When Jack was all patched up ("Aw, does the wittle baby need a bottle?" "I'm gonna shove my foot up your arse."), Bob went through the same process he did with Marzia's blood. He brought up both files side by side. "See?" He pointed to the screen with two fingers. "You both have that in your blood."

Marzia came over to join them. It was a word she hadn't seen before, but she sure that normal humans didn't have whatever that was. "What is it?" She asked.

"The effects of that syringe," Bob stated. It was almost as if he was proud. "Congratulations, Marzia." He glanced between Jack and Mark before saying. "You're a superhero now."

* * *

Just as the Marzia in Jack's world, the Marzia in Sean's world also survived. She, unfortunately, did not gain any superpowers. Sean had learned -- through means that probably were not considered orthodox -- that Marzia was an anorexic with atypical depression. She passed out from malnutrition and went into shock. Sean decided Marzia was sneaky and clever and knew he had to get to know her. She could possibly be helpful. "Did you hear what happened?" Sean asked Wade the following day. He threw down a card for Wade to take.

Wade nodded. "Do you have any sevens?"

Sean frowned as Wade took another one of his cards. "What do you think about it?"

"I think you're psychic," he smirked as Sean rolled his eyes. "Do you have any aces?"

Sean threw down his cards. Wade grinned in triumph. Sean crossed his arms and turned his head, a bit upset at losing. "Best four outta seven?" He mumbled.

"I think you have a problem." Wade collected the cards.

"We all have problems."

The main reason the two were such great friends was that they listened to each other. Sean listened to Wade's far-fetched tales, and Wade listened to Sean's stories. Wade also -- on his good days -- talked about his life before being diagnosed. He was great friends with Dr. Fischbach and Mr. Muyskens. They were a bunch of idiots that never thought their life would be where it is now. Wade still considered them his friends, but it is hard to keep a friendship when you constantly accuse them of things. "Y'know," Wade said as he adjusted the stack of cards. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk about your life before being here."

It was true. Sean hardly ever said anything. Wade talked enough for the both of them, most days. Sean never remembered anything outside of hospitals and pills. It seemed all his life was lived in some sort of health institution. "I don't know," Sean said honestly. "It's almost as if I've always been here."

"Sounds fun." Wade put the cards in the box -- making sure he bent the edge of the third card before he did so. Sean noticed that Wade always had to bend the corner of the third card. All the ends of the cards were warn out from being folded so much. "Looks like your Navi is here, by the way."

Sean glanced at the clock. "Has it really been half an hour, already?" He sunk into his chair. Every half hour, a staff member had to come check in on Sean. It was every fifteen minutes for Wade. Sean had no idea how he did it. It was annoying enough every half hour. He felt really bad for those patients that had to have 1:1. Maybe Marzia had to have that after not eating for days.

Mr. Muyskens walked up to their table with a faint smile on his face. Sean always felt like an ant compared to him. It was bad enough Wade was around the same height. "What have you two been up to?"

"Same thing we're always up to," Sean muttered. "Absolutely nothing."

"Aw, don't be that way," Wade chided. "We do a lot of things. For one, I beat you in almost any type of card game we play."

Sean's eye twitched. He resisted the urge to retaliate. If he said anything insulting Wade would never let it go. "I can't believe I forgot about that," he said through clenched teeth.

"Play nice, you two," Mr. Muskens said before walking away.

Wade stuck his tongue out at Sean. Sean wanted very badly to flip the table and scream.


	6. Mercenaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this out. Hope you enjoy :)

Minx was more of a shadow than anything else. Her mind was so warped and twisted she had to be kept on the floor for advanced cases. Sean heard that few patients were kept there, perhaps four or five. They had to have constant surveillance over everything they did and could not be trusted around other patients. It seemed like a terrible life to Sean. He feared that one day he would end up there if he screwed up too many times. Yet according to Dr. Fischbach, Sean was the healthiest he's ever been. If he kept his act up long enough he might actually convince everyone he's sane.

The advanced floor was crawling with security as well as covered in cameras. There was only one way in and virtually no way out for the patients. Cry was one such nurse to act as a walking camera. In addition to his normal rounds of medicine distribution to patients, Cry had to perimeter the whole floor. It was about as easy as it sounded. Nothing ever really happened there since the patients were almost always locked in their rooms. Besides the high security and specialized staff, anything that happened on the top floor was confidential. It was never talked in the open and was kept secret from even the non-specialized staff.

So when Sean knew about Minx striking out against Cry, everyone flocked to him for the juicy details. He made up the majority of it, of course, since it was what happened in Jack's world that tipped him off. Weirdly enough, it caused him to wake up in a panic — as if he had to fend for his life. He had never had that happen before. It was a strange experience that he did not want to ever happen again. It made his chest tighten and his limbs freeze up. He was forced to see Minx as she was in Jack's world; circling him and laughing until he broke the trance. Even now he could hear her cackling at misery itself. "It was awful," Sean kept saying. "She just didn't care."

When Sean was finally able to pry himself away from the questioning patients, he made a straight line to his room. He groaned in annoyance at the lack of locks in this god forsaken place. Ignoring that, he reached under his bed for his art supplies. He had some new people to draw.

* * *

Jack and Mark stood there dumbfounded. Marzia, a superhero? What were they supposed to do now? A loud beeping resounded in the room along with flashing red lights. Bob hit a few keys on his keyboard and a voice called out into the room, " _Jack? Do you copy? Mark?"_  


They recognized the voice immediately. Though it was strange to hear it without its usual distortion. "We're here, Cry," Jack answered. He gave Mark a confused glance. The background noise sounded like hell itself and Cry sounded about the same.

" _Oh, thank Christ. Listen, I need your help. It went bad. So bad. I'm down and Minx is going psycho —_ "

Jack cut him off. "Whoa wait. Slow down a minute. What are you talking about? What went bad? Who's with you?"

" _There's no time! A mission went south and I need your help. I'd thought you'd be glad that I'm actually turning to you guys_."

He was right. Cry -- always Cry -- and the rest of his crew never acknowledged heroes. They were a group that worked on their own and asked for help from no one. "What's your location?" Mark asked in a rare serious tone. If a mercenary needed help it was some bad shit.

" _I'm sending them to you now. You need to hurry. I don't know —_ " The feed cut off.

"Cry?" Jack called out. There was no response. "Mark, we need to go. Bob, send the location to Mark as quick as you can." Mark and Jack began taking off without a second thought. Until a voice stopped them.

"What should I do?"

Jack turned to look at Marzia. His mom reactions usually reserved for Mark took a sudden hold over him. "You stay here with Bob. I'm sure he'll need some help holding down base." He winked and ran off with Mark.

The duo made it to Cry's location in record time. Jack (being forced) agreed to Mark teleporting the two of them there. They found him hiding behind some air conditioning units on the roof. There was blood oozing out of his side and his mask was broken, revealing his mouth. "I never thought I'd be happy to see you guys," he joked, his voice sounding unedited and weak. Neither Mark nor Jack spoke. They waited for Cry to explain in his own time. "Minx and I were on a mission to take out a top executive for some corporation. We didn't know what kind of company it was, but now I kind of have an idea," he winced in pain. "The guy was surrounded by bodyguards when we got there. We were wrong when we thought we could take them out. They were none like we've ever encountered; they were swift and agile and didn't rely on brute force alone. We tried to fall back, but we weren't quick enough. One of them grabbed on to Minx while another held her down. I had two closing in on me so I could only watch as they took a needle out and stuck it right in her neck. They took off after that."

Cry cursed under his breath before continuing. Jack could only guess his wound was killing him. "I didn't know why. I ran up to Minx to see what was wrong, but I found out the hard way. It looked like she was struggling with something. She wouldn't say anything when I talked to her or said we had to leave. I was about to help her up when she grabbed my neck. Now I know Minx is strong but this... this was something else. I thought she was going to snap my neck like it was nothing if I couldn't get out of her grasp. Whatever was in that needle messed her up real bad. She stuck her knife in my side and when she punched me she cracked my mask. I know Minx. I know she isn't capable of this."

"So then what do you want from us?" Mark asked. It was in that rare serious tone again. "You escaped; you could run right now without having to worry about her."

"That's the problem," Cry said in a low voice. "I can't leave one of my members behind — it's our code. As the leader, I'm forbidden to break it no matter what. I have to bring back Minx as safe as possible even if it costs me my own life."

"It might as well," Mark mumbled. Jack smacked his arm and gave him a stern look. Mark returned it with a glare before turning back to Cry. "Fine. We'll help you on your suicide mission. Where did you see her last?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the door to the rooftop blasted open. The three peeked over the AC units to see a dispersing cloud of smoke. Within the smoke was none other than Minx. She looked around like some beast stalking its prey. She moved slow and steady, which caused Jack to have a sinking feeling in his stomach. Maybe Minx was twice as deadly now. The three men lowered themselves as far as they could make themselves go. Cry couldn't be of any help since he was injured, so that left only Jack and Mark. Jack tried to reassure himself that the odds were against Minx and not the other way around. "Just think of it like a hostage situation," Jack whispered to Mark. "Only the enemy is also our hostage."

"Great," Mark shot back, also in a whisper. "So I'm guessing you want to go up and say 'top o'the morning to ya, lassie. Would ya like to kindly surrender so we can help ya?' No thanks, but anyone who can single-handedly take down Cry gets a free pass from me."

Jack stared at him for a moment. It was a look of utter disappointment and questioning. "That was a terrible accent. Besides, we don't have any time. This is the best plan we have since Cry is bleeding out over here."

"Why do we need a plan, then? Actions speak louder than words."

He hopped over the AC units before Jack could stop him. "Fucking idiot," he hissed, almost breaking the whisper. "Stay low, Cry." He followed Mark's actions over the AC units. All he could do was hope that this didn't get him killed.


End file.
